POKEMON GOLD, SILVER AND CRYSTAL HAPPINESS GUIDE

Introduction

In Pokemon Gold and Silver, a new type of evolution was introduced. A hidden value from 0 to 255 called Happiness is given to all Pokemon in the game, determining how well you've tamed each of your Pokemon. For most Pokemon, this value merely determines the power of Frustration (your Pokemon has a low happiness value) and Return (high happiness). For a select few Pokemon, evolution can be achieved when the happiness value is maxed out and the Pokemon gains a level after achieving max-out of happiness.

Pokemon that Evolve from Happiness

Pokemon

Evolves into

Eevee

Espeon (Day)

Umbreon (Night)

Chansey

Blissey

Golbat

Crobat

Togepi

Togetic

Pichu

Pikachu

Cleffa

Clefairy

Igglybuff

Jigglypuff

Discovering Happiness

In Goldenrod City, there are two women who will determine the happiness of your Pokemon. The first lady can be found just north of the Bike Shop on the east side of town. She'll give you a general idea of how happy you're Pokemon is, but she won't tell you your Pokemon's exact Happiness quota. Here are the things she says:

"It doesn't seem to like you at all. It looks mean."Happiness Quota: 0-49
Obviously, if you're trying to raise happiness, you're either doing something very wrong, or you're making your Pokemon hate you on purpose (I recall a particular Jigglypuff I made hate me...). This is when Frustration works the best, especially because you can only get the TM when you have a Pokemon at this happiness quota.

"You should treat it better. It's not used to you."Happiness Quota: 50-99
When you catch, hatch or recieve a new Pokemon through a trade, it starts out with this pretty neutral feeling toward you at a happiness value of merely 70. Unfortunately, Pokemon that evolve through trading will lose their happiness toward you and end up with this Happiness quota when you trade them back.

"It's quite cute."Happiness Quota: 100-149
This rating annoys me because most of my Pokemon end up somewhere in this range, meaning I still have a long way to go with the happiness gaining. Anyway, Return will be given to you if you have a Pokemon with happiness at least this high.

"It's friendly toward you. It looks sort of happy."Happiness Quota: 150-199
You're getting there, and the appropriate Pokemon only have a little bit of happiness left to achieve before they can evolve. Keep up the good work.

"I get the feeling that it really trusts you."Happiness Quota: 200-249
You've come a long way in becoming friends with your Pokemon. Return is quite effective now, and when the happiness quota is 220 or greater, the seven Pokemon that evolve through happiness will do so when you raise them to the next level.

"It looks really happy! It must love you a lot."Happiness Quota: 250-255
The absolute best of the best. I congratulate you on your bonding skills with computer data. I have to admit, this message does give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. When a Pokemon reaches this level of happiness, Return is the most effective, measuring up to a base power of 102 (to compare, Body Slam is only 85.)

Every Sunday, the second happiness rater women will visit the 5th Floor of the Goldenrod PokeMart and give out TMs. If she sees that the first Pokemon in your party likes you, she'll give you a Return TM. If that Pokemon doesn't like you, she'll give you a Frustration TM. You can do this every week for unlimited Return and Frustration TMs. Similarly, a woman living just outside the Tohjo Falls on Kanto's Route 26 will give you the Sandstorm TM if your first Pokemon likes you.

Affecting Happiness Positively

There are only a certain number of ways you can affect your Pokemon's happiness, and each way has less of an effect as your Pokemon gains more happiness. Anyway, here are all the methods of affecting happiness:

The Haircut Brothers work a little differently. They can be found in the Underground Path of Goldenrod City every day of the week besides Monday. The younger brother will be there on Tuesday, Thrusday and Saturday and costs $300 while the older brother can be found on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday for $500. They'll give your Pokemon a haircut which will randomly affect happiness.

"[Pokemon] looks a little happier."

For the both the Older and Younger Brothers, you merely get a +1 for Pokemon of all happiness values.

"[Pokemon] looks happy!"

-For the both the Older and Younger Brother, you a nice get +3 for Pokemon with happiness values 0-199, and +1 for those with 200-249.

"[Pokemon] looks delighted!"

For the Younger Brother, you get major +10 bonus for Pokemon with happiness values 0-199 and an okay +4 for those with values 200-249. But for the Older Brother, you get a +5 increase for Pokemon with happiness values 0-100 and a mere +2 for those with 200-249 values.

If you want to skip all this happiness stuff and evolve the appropriate Pokemon much faster, you can get a special PokeBall made in Azelea Town by giving Kurt a Green Apricorn (these can be gotten daily from Cutting down the bush on Route 42 and checking the Apricorn trees.) If you catch any Pokemon with this ball, it starts with a happiness value of 200. Unfortunately, Chansey and Golbat are the only catchable Pokemon that evolve from happiness.

Affecting Happiness Negatively

I don't know why anyone would prefer their Pokemon to be unhappy instead of happy unless you want the Pokemon to hate you anyway, because Frustration is basically the same as Return, but it's much harder to maintain unhappiness, and your Pokemon don't evolve for it, either.

Decreasing Happiness:

The Pokemon faints in battle. (-1 for all happiness values)

Use of Energypowder (-5 for values 0-199, -10 for values 200-249)

Use of Heal Powder (-5 for values 0-199, -10 for values 200-249)

Use of Energy Root (-10 for values 0-199, -15 for values 200-249)

Use of Revival Herb (-15 for values 0-199, -20 for values 200-249)

As mentioned before, trading your Pokemon will reset its happiness to a mere 70, so be warned.

Also, your Pokemon will return to a happiness of 70 if left in a Pokemon Stadium 2 box, because it's changed ownership.

Myths of Happiness

There seemed to be a number of things thought to effect happiness that really don't mean anything at all in the game. Only the things mentioned above affect happiness, postively or negatively. But just in case you need things spelled out for you, the following factors do not affect happiness:

Putting a Pokemon in Bill's PC (Come on, would that really be fair? You can only have 6 Pokemon with you at a time.)

Healing the Pokemon when weak and injured.

Giving a Pokemon a hold item.

Using a Pokemon in battles (save level ups).

Winning battles with a Pokemon (again, save for when it gains a level).

UNSURE: In Crystal, apparently you're Pokemon gains more happiness if it levels up in the location it was captured. I don't have Crystal, thus I can't check this. According to the game it's legit, but Gold and Silver also say giving a Pokemon a held item boosts their happiness when it doesn't. Still, because Crystal has the Pokemon Seer in Cianwood City, this is most likely a real happiness booster.

And that's basically all there is to happiness! May your Pokemon be tamed the way you want them to be tamed, and may Blissey rule the world!